October 2011 newslinks

"Theresa May is expected to announce plans to make possessing a gun with intent to supply a specific offence, it has emerged." - Guardian

"Changes to the law on self defence are likely to have little or no impact on the justice system, according to the government's own assessment. Last week, the Ministry of Justice said they would "strengthen people's rights to use force to defend themselves from intruders in their own homes". But the MoJ's impact assessment says the move "seeks to clarify the law rather than making material changes"." - BBC

LIAM FOX SPEAKS TO THE BBC - HE HOPES FOR A FRONTBENCH RETURN, EVENTUALLY

"Liam Fox has told BBC Bristol he hopes to return to the front benches - but is also looking forward to being freer to say what he thinks as a backbencher. The ex-defence secretary admitted he was "careless" in not having a civil servant present at a Dubai meeting with a potential defence contractor. He "paid the price" for that, which fitted with his belief that people should take responsibility for actions. No 10 said it was unsurprising Mr Fox was keen on return to government. The PM's official spokeswoman said: "He did good work while he was defence secretary. But he resigned only a few days ago."" - BBC

Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, has admitted that he is still in touch with Adam Werritty and accused the media of making "a meal" of the relationship with his friend and self-styled adviser. - Daily Telegraph

The PM: "Boards have got think, when they’re making pay awards ‘is this the right and responsible thing to do’. Of course you’ve got to attract the best talent to run the business that you are accountable for as a non-executive director, but is what you’re doing responsible?" - PolHome (£)

Gerald Howarth: "The capitalist system has been proven to have delivered. It's not perfect, of course, but we had the experiment in communism, and a slightly milder version of it here called socialism, and the Government of 1945 did irreparable damage to the United Kingdom, followed by Wilson and Callaghan, and was rescued of course by Margaret Thatcher in 1979." - PolHome (£)

Ed Miliband's soundbite for the day: "I think it’s wrong because what we see is rewards not based on performance, not a something for something culture, but a something for nothing culture." - PolHome (£)

Mark Field MP: "What’s interesting about St Paul’s – obviously it’s in my constituency and I’ve been down there a few times during the course of this week – is the sense that it’s not just the usual suspects, not just people on the Left of politics, but there’s increasingly an unease from a lot of middle-class people that somehow the rules of capitalism are skewed against them." - PolHome (£)

Nick Wood: 'Cameron must put Britain first in this €uro-shambles' - Daily Mail

Dan Hodges: "Europe, as a political concept, is dying. The great irony is that the only people who can’t see it are the Eurosceptics themselves. It was their manic Europhobia and constant cries of “wolf” that ceded the debate, by default, to the pro-Europeans. And now it is that same mania that is keeping the fading embers of the great European debate alive" - Telegraph

John Palmer: "The combination of eurozone political union and backbench Euroscepticism may herald a gradual departure from the EU" - Guardian

Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos: "Cameron and many in his party appear to believe that legislation that improves workers’ rights, and efforts to curb the devastating power of financial markets is not in Britain’s interests. This is the real meaning of the Tory EU rebellion" - OpenDemocracy

He has two things to consider the day after, says Benedict Brogan: The future of the coalition, and his credibility as leader - Telegraph

Tory MPs feel Cameron is both weak and heavy-handed on Europe - Guardian

James Forsyth: 'Cameron needs a new management style' - elements of the party "want him to stop acting like a medieval monarch and start behaving in the manner of someone who is first among equals" - Spectator

Alex Massie responds to James Forsyth - Cameron "these days is something of an elected monarch" but "not first among equals in any meaningful sense" - Spectator

Chris Moncrieff: 'Cameron tried to bully MPs with a whip that he didn't need ... now he's the one with egg on his face' - Daily Mail

George Eaton: Cameron was right to take on the backbenchers, "he has shown that he is prepared to adopt a position - that a referendum on EU membership is not in Britain's interests - and stick to it" - New Statesman

Gove says he "respected the passion" from backbenchers, stressing consensus in the Tory party over the EU - MPsETC

Daniel Knowles: Is Gove serious to say the Tories are "united as never before?" Knowles argues that "most of the party doesn't really disagree with the public statements of William Hague or David Cameron: they want guarantees against further integration and a return to Westminster of some powers (nobody is sure which)." - Telegraph

Steven Baxter: "The rift over Europe -- the faultline that runs through the Conservative Party and has done for so many years -- is not going to go away, but that it has popped up so soon in this administration could be an indication of strength rather than weakness" - New Statesman

The treasury denies that Andrea Leadsom MP swore at George Osborne over the telephone - Telegraph

James Forsyth: "It looks like about a third of Tory backbenchers will rebel in tonight’s vote on an EU referendum. 18 months into government, this is a massive rebellion and one that should make the Prime Minister think again about his style of party management. Those in Number 10 who claim that many of the rebels will ‘never be happy’ are missing the point that, while there may be a hardcore of MPs keen to rebel, many more are reluctant rebels who feel they have been pushed into it by Cameron’s failure to engage with the party on the whole issue of Europe."

Labour rebellions? Guido blogs: "one Labour source suggests that up to thirty of Ed’s own side are preparing to call for a referendum. Other sources, closer to the leadership, spin that they are expecting less than fifteen…"

Referendum vote tells us Tories are divided over David Cameron, not Europe - Benedict Brogan

Why will Cameron impose a three-line-whip? "For Dave, this is about the one unforgivable sin: not so much disloyalty as the even graver crime of insubordination." - Damian Thompson

Michael White: 'David Cameron on Europe: Time to lead from the front' - Guardian

Nick Wood: 'Is Cameron about to strike another blow against trust in politicians? - "With 60 per cent of Tory Party members wanting out of the EU, the gulf between the governed and the governing could not be starker. Talk about a democratic deficit" - Daily Mail

Daniel Hannan: 'Gibraltarians understand what it means to be British. Do we?' - Telegraph